June 23, 2014

Bucky Lasek Wins X Games Silver in Rallycross

And with his X Games Rallycross medal, Bucky joins an elite group of athletes who have medaled in two different disciplines.

The Road to the Medal

Subaru Rally Team USA (SRT USA) fielded three cars for X Games Austin rallycross – the usual #11 of Sverre Isachsen and #81 of Bucky Lasek, plus a special appearance by Travis Pastrana in #199, his only rallycross event for this year.

This year’s X Games course was short and tight, tucked into a corner of the Circuit of the Americas track – in the area of Turns 12 through 16. [LINK TO VENUE MAP – http://xgamesaustin.com/venue-map/.]

The race start straightaway led into a tight dirt section, followed by a hairpin turn into a small jump. By comparison, this jump wasn’t as big or technically difficult as the jumps for previous X Games courses. As usual from a rallycross multi-\car start, most of the action occurred in the front dirt section going into the first corner, where bumping and tagging left many of the competitors disabled and out of the competition.

Race Seeding

Seeding for the heat races was held early in the day. Timed laps determined heat-race placement. Sverre came out strong, giving him a front-row advantage for his heat race. Travis and Bucky posted slower lap times, placing them on the back rows for their heats.

Heat Races

Six-lap heat races were run with five cars in each heat. The top three finishers were to advance to the semi finals.In the first heat race, Sverre got a great start off the line, beating the competition going into the dirt section. Contact from another car into Sverre’s rear wheel sent him sideway, crashing his front end into the concrete barrier. Then the #11 suffered more damage as the other car continued to drive through Sverre, retiring him from the games.

In the next heat race, Travis was paired with some of the top competition. From the start, he was in 3rd and closely battled the 2nd-place finisher. Travis also swapped spots with the 4th-place vehicle before finishing in 3rd and advancing to the semi finals.

The final heat race featured Bucky in his eye-catching, orange-accented #81 WRX STI. Bucky went out in the 4th spot, avoiding the mayhem that had been dished up by the first dirt section all day, collecting unsuspecting drivers before the first lap was half over. Lap after lap Bucky’s line was tight and to the inside of the hairpin, and eventually that gave him the opportunity to move up in position. With a 2nd-place finish, Bucky moved on to the semifinals.

Semifinals

Twelve cars advanced to the two 4-lap semifinal runs, with the top three finishers then advancing to the final round. Travis and Bucky were both in the same heat, forcing these teammates to battle each other while also trying to beat their competitors. In the end, Bucky took the last advancing spot while Travis narrowly missed out.

Final Race

So the stage was set. One lonely Subaru WRX STI. Driven by a 19-time X Games skateboard medalist. Up against drivers with more racing experience, most of whom had won podium spots in the Global Rallycross Championship series in previous events. But if there was anyone up for this back-row challenge, Bucky was your man.

His battle began on the first turn, where his closest competition sandwiched him in a constant battle for 2nd through 4th. As the trend continued, the race was red-flagged to clear a damaged car from the track within the first few laps.

Restart

The cars lined up in the same position as for the race start, except for the damaged car and the one that had been disqualified for causing the accident. Bucky was slow getting to the line, indicating that he may have had some kind of mechanical issue.

Upon restart, Bucky didn’t take off right away and lurched forward, restarting the race in 4th gear with eight laps to go.

Bucky battled for 3rd place, riding the bumper of the car in front of him.

With a few laps to go, that car in front of him took the joker lap for the second time in the race, giving that driver a stop-and-go penalty and leaving space for Bucky to move up to 2nd. With only a few laps to go, the leader was out of reach for Bucky. He took the checkered flag in 2nd, giving him his first rallycross podium and his first X Games medal in rallycross, all without a clutch in his #81.

This X Games medal made Bucky one of a few athletes who has medaled in two different disciplines.

He rode into the pits in true Bucky style – on the hood of his Subaru WRX STI, wearing his silver medal, and holding up his guitar … true to his Rockstar sponsorship.